World

Ban Ki-moon Is Not Leading the U.N. Anymore, but He’s Still Working to Make Change


This article is excerpted from a special report on Athens Democracy Forumwill convene this week in the Greek capital to examine ways in which self-governance can develop.


Ban Ki-moon was a teenager from a village in present-day Korea when he and a group of other young people from all over the world went on a Red Cross tour of the United States and met President John F. Kennedy. It was what he later described as a life-changing moment.

There, in 1962 on the South Lawn of the White House, Kennedy set out to rally youth internationally and pointed out that people can be friends even if their country isn’t – that the reality is ” there are no national boundaries”.

Decades later, as secretary-general of the United Nations from 2007 to 2016, Ban put that platform into practice, working to remove barriers, promote friendship among nations. engage and advocate for peace and conflict resolution.

Six years on, he’s still busy with that job – as an individual, but also as the vice president of a team. global leaders called Elderswas founded 15 years ago by South African president Nelson Mandela, and is currently chaired by former Irish president Mary Robinson.

In a recent interview, Mr. Ban expressed disappointment at Donald J. Trump’s decision when he was president to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on climate change, and at Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine under under President Vladimir Putin. This conversation has been edited and condensed.

Mr. Ban, since you left the UN in 2016, the world has experienced great shocks. A wave of populism has swept through Europe and the United States, the pandemic has killed millions, and we are now in the midst of a war in Ukraine. Is the world in a worse state?

There is a lot of conflict even in my time. But I fear we live in a world where democracy is in crisis. I am very concerned about that, and especially about Russia’s illegal aggression against Ukraine.

Russia is one of the permanent members of the Security Council. Normally, the Security Council is the main organization for maintaining peace and security. But this time, the Security Council was paralyzed. This is really a source of great interest to me.

How do you view Western democracies, and especially the United States?

Although I have never met him in person, I feel very fortunate not to have to deal with President Donald Trump when I was secretary general. I retired to the United Nations 20 days before he took office.

Why do you feel lucky not to have to deal with President Trump?

Because multilateralism started to wane, and President Trump pulled out of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

I was determined to have the climate agreement passed in my time. So the first thing I did was convince President George W. Bush. I am grateful that he understood my logic, intentions, and passions, and he helped. It took almost 10 years for the agreement to go into effect: on November 3, 2016 – about 50 days before my assignment ended.

When President Trump then decided to withdraw from the Paris climate change agreement, I breathed a sigh of relief. Why? Because if President Trump had been president a year earlier, there would have been no possibility of a Paris Agreement. Once it is passed, the US withdrawal only means that the US will not provide any funds.

I have been critical of President Trump ever since. Scientifically, his vision of climate change is flawed. His political views are short-sighted and economically irresponsible. I warned him that one day he would be remembered for going against history. And I am very grateful to President Joe Biden, whose first presidential act was rejoining the Paris Agreement.

You recently condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “moral outrage”. What’s the way out of that war?

I visited Ukraine on August 16 with former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Nobel Peace Prize laureate. I was horrified to witness the horrors Massacre in Bucha and in Irpin. We have spoken out, and demanded that the perpetrators be condemned and brought to justice – if not today, tomorrow, and if not tomorrow, then certainly in the near future.

As the world’s second largest nuclear power, Russia, is committing crimes against humanity, and the United Nations and multilateralism are weakened, if not completely broken, here it is. is a very serious problem.

Unfortunately, we see many countries, including some very important countries in Asia, keeping silent about these atrocities. This is clearly a violation of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu has said, in cases of injustice, staying silent means taking sides with the oppressor. We should really show solidarity against Russia’s barbaric slaughter of people.

The end of the Cold War marked the end of the nuclear arms race between the superpowers. But you warn that the nuclear threat is now back. How serious is it?

Weapons of mass destruction are one of the greatest and most pressing existential threats facing the world today. Russia’s recent aggression towards Ukraine and his threat of nuclear retaliation for any intervention to stop his shelling of Ukrainian power plants have raised the specter of a nuclear winter.

WMD terrorism can cause a sudden all-out war between rival powers through misunderstanding and misjudgment. As an isolated event or a catalyst of great power war, WMD terrorism has the potential to cause great economic, social, environmental and human damage. The two most powerful countries in the world, the United States and China, must confront this reality and solve it before it is too late.

One of your other big priorities as a leader is gender equality. How did you get involved in this regard?

I grew up in a very conservative country, Korea. I was born before the end of World War II, in 1944. And growing up, I saw how my mother and sisters and all my female relatives were treated as human beings. Korea is an all-male society. Women don’t have any role to play, no matter how educated they are.

As soon as I became the secretary general of the United Nations, I decided to change this injustice. I checked the records, and to my surprise I discovered that from the founding of the United Nations in 1945 until 1992 – that is to say for 47 years – only three women held the position of assistant secretary-general or below. acting secretary general.

During a one-year visit to the UK, I met the first woman UN secretary general, British diplomat Margaret Joan Anstee. She came to me and handed me a book titled: “Never Learn to Type: A Woman at the United Nations”.

That gave me an idea to do something about. In 2010, I founded UN Women, as a ministry for women’s rights. Then I started appointing women to senior positions. There is a committee that selects the assistant secretary-general and is subordinate to the secretary-general. Each time, the council will bring the names of three men to the front. I asked, “Aren’t there any women?” They said: “Yes, there are some women, but they are not up to the required standard.” So I said, “Let me meet the woman who failed the test.” I interviewed her, and chose her.

Every time I am told that I am not following the rules and regulations, and I reply, “This is my prerogative. You have never introduced any women. Make sure that, regardless of whether that woman is up to the standard, you include at least one woman in the three candidates.” As a result, during my time in office, 150 positions were filled by women.



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